File sharing is certainly a disruptive technology and The Pirate Bay took this a step further this week by announcing a section for “physibles,” where users can download files used to make 3D objects. This technology has been in development for some time and was present at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show.Cubify, for one, made the announcement for their Cube 3D printer, supposed to be one of the first full-constructed options on the market. While it’s not “there” just yet the implications of this technology are limitless, allowing consumers to use such files to someday make literally anything.

The Pirate Bay can now give you torrent files used by 3D printers, which “print” physical objects, which can be made from a variety of materials including ceramics, plastics, silver, steel and glass. While most “prints” are nothing more than simple toys or sculptures, a few designs have already begun exploring a new way to create jewelry, gears and even iPhone cases. And The Pirate Bay expects these designs only to grow in diversity and scope, helping society in ways that will be as disruptive as the first phone lines:

We believe that in the nearby future you will print your spare parts for your vehicles. You will download your sneakers within 20 years. The benefit to society is huge. No more shipping huge amount of products around the world. No more shipping the broken products back. No more child labor. We’ll be able to print food for hungry people. We’ll be able to share not only a recipe, but the full meal. We’ll be able to actually copy that floppy, if we needed one.”

The Pirate Bay is not alone in this new feature as many sites like Shapeways, Thingverse, and Google Warehouse offer plans for 3D printable objects. And whats nice is that the 3D printing community seems to be spinning off the open-source model. All these files are free, meaning that even were you to torrent a design from The Pirate Bay, it wouldn’t be pirating (well not yet anyway).

3D printing faces two challenges at present. One is that most 3D printers, require complex assembly. Another challenge on the road to becoming a regular household item is the cost associated with 3D printing. The Cube costs more than $1,000, which only gets you the device. This price tag doesn’t include any of the additional costs of stocking up on new printing materials. And this is the cheapest of whats out there. For example there is an industrial grade 3D printer that costs about $40,000 and has been around for over 30 years.

But as technology becomes cheaper and cheaper, the potential of 3D printing rises. I am excited to see where the future of 3D printing will go as the technology advances. It’ll also be interesting to see the establishment’s reaction to the idea that people will be able to create designs for their products and upload them to The Pirate Bay for others to download. I’m sure the copyright industry will fight this vehemently but only time can tell if and when we get to that stage. For now, it’s a pretty neat, but all together impractical technology for the average consumer.

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Michael Foley is the Managing Editor of pnosker.com. He is particularly interested in the growing connection between technology and American culture. When not crawling the web for tech news, he is an aspiring novelist, world traveler, iPhone aficionado and loves to read Sherlock Holmes mysteries. Why does he love technology? Because "civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which [it] can perform without thinking of them." - Alfred North Whitehead.